[Wharariki Beach, New Zealand] We knew it was coming. A full and boring day behind the wheel. We started off by back tracking to Westport and that took one whole Skeptics Guide to the Universe episode (thanks ‘Link1’ open WiFi point at Karamea). From there the only thing of interest to us while heading around the monstrous Kahurangi National Park was the countries biggest bridge swing on the upper Buller gorge. A bit silly we thought, they don’t have free viewing platform so we just kept driving and the SGU kept playing. Eventually the epic forests and mountains turned to beautiful orchards and vineyards not unlike the Cape valleys, just more tidy.

Eventually we hit Tasman bay and turned left to once again start climbing up and over more crazy passes to Takaka. We stopped at a viewpoint and took a short walk along a forest trail but other than that we hardly left the car all day. From high on the pass stunning views had us peering into the distance over Tasman and Golden Bay. Not the best photo weather, but what can you do? We past a few interesting spots and barely slowed down since we will come back along this section tomorrow – caves, sinkholes, viewpoints, the Abel Tasman national park, and the countries largest and most popular sport climbing crags along Paynes Ford.

By the time we got to Collingwood we were almost out of petrol (again – averaging 10l/100km) and the wind was picking up (from strong to gale). The last 30odd km out to Wharariki beach were dodgy with our little van being blown around like a sail boat. Once more we found ourselves at the end of the road, this time at the northern most tip of south island. It was only around 430km in the day but due to the steep and windy roads we were in the car for 9 hours with possibly and hours rest. Tomorrow we will have to take it easy and stop occasionally to smell the flowers.

Wharariki beach (the end of the road again) has some amazing arches but they are only accessible at low tide (1:10am and 14:00) so it looks like we may miss them (this time). We were met at the campsite by the current manager. An excited young lady from Belgium who loves the place and is particularly impressed that everyone goes to bed at 10pm. We like that arrangement too 🙂 The campsite looks like Hobbiton would look if a tornado was passing through – gale force winds – tonight should be interesting.

[Pictures: A view of Tasman bay in the distance. Finally found a use for V and Hobbiton in a gale]

– Posted from my iPhone via 3G while pretty drunk